欧洲近代早期用地磁偏角测经度新论:以基歇尔、卫匡国和哈雷的探索为例  

A New Discussion on the Use of Magnetic Declination for Longitude Measurement by Athanasius Kircher,Martino Martini and Edmond Halley in Early Modern Europe

作　　者：戴碧云 DAI Biyun(Department of the History of Science, Tsinghua University,Beijing 100084, China)

机构地区：[1]清华大学科学史系,北京100084

出　　处：《自然科学史研究》2021年第1期105-114,共10页Studies in The History of Natural Sciences

基　　金：国家社会科学基金青年项目“晚明传教士高一志‘义礼西学’系列译著整理与研究”(项目编号17CZJ012)。

摘　　要：17世纪三四十年代,基歇尔利用耶稣会全球网络观察和收集了很多地点的地磁偏角数据,力图在较大区域内使用这种方法测算经度,后因地磁偏角演变、资料失窃等原因而不了了之。卫匡国等人为此提供了大量数据和线索,但卫匡国《中国新图志》中的经度是通过日、月食方法测定的,而其余大部分数据是通过前人地图推算而来的。前人关于他曾利用地磁偏角测定经度的观点难以成立。17世纪末,哈雷在英国皇家学会和皇家海军的支持下,绘制了大西洋上的地磁偏角等值线,即“哈雷之线”,真正开启了大区域内利用地磁偏角推算经度的序幕。利用地磁偏角测量经度超越了罗盘的指向功能,本质上已属于地磁匹配导航范畴,具有里程碑式意义。In the 1630s and 40s,Athanasius Kircher used the Jesuit Global Network to observe and collect magnetic declination data at many locations,and tried to use this method to calculate longitudes in a larger area.However,his magnetic declination data became less reliable due to the evolution of the Earth's magnetic declination.Martino Martini and other Jesuits provided Kircher with a lot of magnetic declination data and clues.Martino Martini's Novus Atlas Sinensis calculated the longitudes with the help of solar and lunar eclipses.At the end of the 17th century,with the support of the Royal Society and the Royal Navy,Edmond Halley mapped the contour lines of the Earth's magnetic fields on the Atlantic Ocean.“Halley's Lines”officially initiated the use of magnetic declinations to measure longitudes in large areas.This landmark invention went beyond the mere pointing function of the compass,and was,in essence,geomagnetic-matching navigation.

关 键 词：经度测量 地磁偏角 基歇尔 卫匡国 哈雷 

分 类 号：N09[自然科学总论—科学技术哲学]